Title

Author

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

12-2006

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, many have analyzed, criticized, lamented, and protested five decades of large-scale development aid gone disastrously wrong. They have made two main arguments. First, many low-income countries are hobbled by corrupt governance and uncompetitive markets. Second, for various unfortunate reasons, donor agencies tend to favor development projects that are overly expensive and not sustainable. These profound critiques have come from both the political right and the left, from people and organizations in the South and the North, from academics and street protesters, and from people within and without the international donor community. Yet as if nothing had been learned, large-scale financial assistance for poor countries has suddenly resurfaced on political agendas everywhere. In the authors view, these plans should be abandoned as they suffer from the same weaknesses as the much-maligned aid efforts of yesteryear. Implementation of these plans would wreak havoc on poor countries.

Keywords

foreign aid, developing countries, sustainability, social policy

Discipline

Political Science | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Harvard International Review

Volume

27

Issue

4

First Page

26

Last Page

30

ISSN

0739-1854

Publisher

Harvard International Relations Council

Citation

VERWEIJ, Marco, & GYAWALI, Dipak.(2006). Against More Aid: Why Development Assistance Should Not Be Tripled. Harvard International Review,27(4), 26-30.